Book review of Women Holding Things by Maira Kalman

I’ve been within the unofficial fan membership of writer and illustrator Maira Kalman for years—together with many of you, little doubt. I can’t go up the chance to applaud her newest work, Women Holding Things, which mixes authentic work with each free verse and prose.

Women, Kalman notes on this tender and revealing ebook, should maintain rather a lot, from “the children and the food” to “the sorrows / and the triumphs.” In her work, girls maintain issues actual and intangible: a can of worms, opinions about trendy artwork. Sometimes she includes a well-known lady, resembling Gertrude Stein, “holding true to herself / writing things very few people / liked or even read.” Sometimes she tells deeply private tales concerning the work, and I really like these elements finest. Despite the title, there aren’t simply girls featured right here but additionally a couple of males—and even issues, holding different issues. “It is hard work / to hold everything,” she writes, “and it never ends.”